1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an emitting-receiving facsimile apparatus, and more particularly to a structure allowing size reduction of a facsimile apparatus having integrally combined emitting unit and receiving unit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional facsimile apparatus can be divided into a separate type composed of an emitting unit for converting the information to be transmitted into electrical signals and a separate receiving unit for receiving said signals to reconstruct the information, and a combined type in which said emitting unit and receiving unit are integrally combined. In recent years the apparatus of the latter combined type has become popular because of the increasing facsimile transmission and also because the combined type allows size and cost reduction by possible use of component parts in both units. The conventional facsimile apparatus is generally composed of an emitting mechanism A and a recording mechanism B which are positioned in parallel as shown in FIG. 1 in a common casing 1 in such a manner that the original advancing direction is parallel to the advancing direction of the recording sheet, or which are positioned front and back as shown in FIG. 2 in a common casing 1 in such a manner that the axes of the original and recording sheet substantially coincide with each other in the advancing direction thereof. In these figures there are also shown an original 2 to be transmitted, an inlet 3 and an outlet 4 for said original, a recording sheet 5 for recording the received image and an outlet 6 for said recording sheet, wherein the arrow a indicating the advancing direction of said original or recording sheet. It is to be further noted that the conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 1 can be made with a relatively small thickness (height) but requires a substantially larger area in the office because of the larger width of the apparatus. On the other hand the apparatus shown in FIG. 2, though smaller in width, requires a larger length, involving inconvenience in the operation and giving rise to an awkward appearance.
In order to resolve such drawback there was already proposed an overlaid structure of the emitting unit and the receiving unit as disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Sho51-187818 corresponding to the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 574,709, in which the original is advanced linearly and the receiving unit is positioned under the ejection tray for the original. Such structure enables a linear original advancement and effective space utilization by the original reading device and the receiving unit, but still is insufficient in respect of modern design concepts.